


In Plain Sight

by Mireille



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-02-22
Updated: 2003-02-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 09:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8097619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: Ginny notices things no one else does.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written prior to the release of OOTP and therefore not compliant at all with anything from that point on.

They thought no one knew, and maybe no one else did, but Ginny couldn’t remember how long it had been since she had figured it out. 

That last Christmas they'd all been at home, perhaps, the year before Ron went to Hogwarts. That was when Ginny had noticed, just a few minutes after Charlie had Apparated in (long after Bill, granted, but even the precision of that--two hours, almost to the minute--made her wonder, once her suspicions had been raised), that he'd started finishing Bill's sentences for him. 

Or maybe it was later during the same visit, during one of Charlie's particularly harrowing stories about a narrow escape from an injured dragon, when she'd heard a sharp intake of breath coming from somewhere to her left, and looked up to see Bill's eyes close briefly, his mouth set in a tight line that reminded her of Percy. 

She'd started watching them after that. This Christmas, everyone had stayed until after the new year, and she wondered if anyone else realized how often they both disappeared: Charlie would go out to take a walk, and Bill would decide he needed a breath of fresh air; Bill would say he had a letter to write, and Charlie would claim to need a bit of peace and quiet, and head upstairs a few minutes later. 

Even the things they didn't do were telling, in Ginny's opinion. In a family that had never been short on physical demonstrations of affection, they seemed to go to great efforts not to touch one another, even in passing, when there was anyone else around. Though they'd always been close--even Ginny, who hadn't even been born until they were both away at school, knew they'd been best friends as children, almost as inseparable as Fred and George--they made a point of being involved in separate conversations most of the time: Charlie spinning tales about adventures he'd had in Romania for the twins and Ron, Bill discussing politics with their father and Percy. 

They didn't even seem to look at one another very often, she realized, as she sat curled up in a chair in the living room, peeking around her book to watch them. Just then, though, Bill looked up, just in time to catch Charlie's eye, and Ginny wondered how the others could possibly _avoid_ noticing that Charlie grinned like that brief glance was all the Christmas he needed. 

She'd wanted to share the secret with someone--what fun is a secret if only you know it, after all?--and had decided on Ron. Their parents were out of the question, of course, and Percy would be scandalized. The twins wouldn't be--the twins never _were_ \--but they'd laugh, and she wasn't entirely sure they wouldn’t say something to Bill and Charlie. But Ron wouldn't, and so she went to his room one afternoon, sitting cross-legged on his Chudley Cannons bedspread, and told him everything she'd noticed over the past several years. 

"You're mad," Ron had muttered when she told him what she'd seen. "That's--they _wouldn't_ , Ginny." 

She tried to argue with him, but he wouldn't listen, and by the end, she was half-convinced that she really had been seeing things. It was ridiculous, really. They were brothers, they were _her_ brothers, and to even think that there was something else between them was not only ridiculous, it was disturbing, and wrong, and positively impossible. 

She might even have been more than half-convinced, because when she went downstairs late that night, thinking that a cup of tea might help her get to sleep, she was startled at the sight of Charlie's head resting on Bill's shoulder as they sat and watched the dying fire. 

"Someone could see us," Bill murmured, and Ginny pressed herself back against the wall, trying to fade into the shadows.

"What are they going to see? I'll close my eyes, and you can say I tipped over when I fell asleep."

Bill laughed softly. "And I just let you drool on my shoulder without trying to move you?"

Charlie grinned. "Ah, but since your dealings with me have always been respectably fraternal, you won't know that I sleep with my mouth open."

"You've got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Absolutely. In fact, the answer to the question you're thinking of right now is 'yes, but not here; we'll never be able to deny anything if we're caught doing _that._ '" 

Now they both laughed, and Bill, with another glance toward the stairs, quickly kissed Charlie and got to his feet, reaching for Charlie's hand. "Then maybe we should move the discussion elsewhere?"

They passed by Ginny on their way to the stairs, but neither seemed to notice her, and she waited until they had gone to continue on to the kitchen. She'd been right, it seemed; she almost wanted to go back upstairs and tell Ron, but then decided not to. 

Maybe no one else _had_ noticed. Maybe they never would. Ginny certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell them. Let them figure it out for themselves; she had.

It was right there, after all, if you only looked.


End file.
